The Effects of Creatine Monohydrate on Western Fence ...



The Effects of Creatine Monohydrate on White Mice (Mus musculus)

Sean Parsa, Heeva Ghane

Department of Biological Science

Saddleback College

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

Creatine is a protein in the form of glycine and arginine. Glycine promotes muscle building and strength gain by slowing the process of muscle tissue breakdown. Arginine increases the body’s ability to produce lean muscle mass. The purpose of this study was to see what effects creatine monohydrate would have on the mass of Mus musculus. Researchers hypothesized that creatine monohydrate will increase the mass of Mus musculus. Ten white mice were bought from Wild Animals Supply and were separated into two groups of five. In the control group, the mice were fed a regular diet of Kelegos® cereal and the experimental group was fed dusted creatine monohydrate Kelegos® cereal. After two weeks, the control increased in weight to 0.01±0.01g (±SEM, n=5) and the experimental group increased in weight to 0.21±0.04g (±SEM, n=5). These results indicated that the data obtained did support the researchers hypothesis. If the research was performed for another consecutive two weeks, the change in weight for the experimental group would be much greater.

Introduction

Creatine monohydrate has been thoroughly investigated in mammals and was proved to be a valid performance, body weight, and water volume enhancer. A research done by Ziegenfuss (1998), tested the acute fluid volume in ten men during three days of creatine supplementation. Ziegenfuss’s (1998) subjects were to ingest 0.07 g · kg FFM-1 creatine monohydrate dissolved in 500 mL of grape drink every three hours with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. This amount of creatine is approximately 10-20 times that found in a normal diet. Strict dietary control was observed because changes in nutrition and hydration status could confound estimated fluid volumes. Specifically, during sessions one, two, and three, subjects completed detailed dietary records of all ingested foods. The subjects increased in water volume, but each subject had a different effect on the creatine based on age, weight, and how often they exercised. Another research done by Vangenberghe (1997) was testing whether creatine supplementation may add to the effects of resistance training on muscle strength and on the capacity to perform high intensity exercise and also to evaluate the effects of long-term creatine supplementation on body composition. Vangenberge (1997) tested this experiment on nineteen women for ten weeks. The experimental group was given 5g of creatine (2.5g tablets) four times a day. The control group received placebo supplements (5g of maltodextrine also in tablet form) four times a day. During the ten weeks, the subjects were to perform variable resistance training for one hour three times per week. The training involved seven different exercises, including leg press, bench press, leg curl, leg extension, squat, shoulder press, and sit-ups. In result, creatine increased maximal strength, maximal intermittent exercise capacity, and fat free mass by 20% to 25%, 10% to 25%, and 60%. Since the intake of creatine increases the amount of energy produced, the tolerance for a longer exercise time will increase. Creatine exerts its effect on metabolism by serving as a precursor to the formation of ATP (Pearlman and Fielding, 2006). When there is an increase in the amount of creatine present, more ATP will be produced to perform more work (Brink 2005). Since creatine restores ATP to a state where it can act as a fuel for the muscle, it will enhance muscle growth. Based upon studies done on humans, the results may be the same on Mus musculus, since both species are mammals.

Materials and Methods

Ten Mus musculus were bought on October 23, 2009 at Wild Animals Supply, Laguna Niguel, California. Each mouse was specifically marked using a Sharpie® and placed into a separate container to indicate the experimental group and the controlled group. For 14 days each mouse was fed five grams of Kellogs Corn flakes cereal every other day. The experimental group was fed cereal that had been coated with creatine monohydrate. The cereal was dusted with creatine by spray misting the cereal with water and dusting creatine monohydrate like powdered sugar over it. To determine the amount of creatine fed, the cereal was weighed before being dusted with creatine and then weighed after. On the day the mice were fed, they were place into a 0.1778-meter hamster ball to run for five minutes, enabling the effect of the creatine monohydrate to be enhanced. For the first three days the mice were individually place into a plastic shoebox (29.5cm x 18cm x 9.5cm) container and then each group of mice was transferred into a large aquarium. To keep track of how much creatine monohydrate was consumed, each mouse was placed into separate plastic shoebox containers for about 12 hours every other day to eat the cereal. Afterward, each mouse was returned to the correct aquarium. The left over cereal was weighed to see how much creatine had been consumed.

Results

The average change in weight for the control group was 0.01±0.01g (±SEM, n=5). The average change in weight for the experimental group in this study was 0.21±0.04g (±SEM, n=5). A one tailed paired t-test revealed that creatine monohydrate does effect the weight of white mice (p=2.4 x 10-3). These data are shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. The average weight increase of the controlled and experimental mice. Average weight increase of the controlled group 0.01±0.01g (±SEM, n=5), experimental weight increase 0.21±0.04g (±SEM, n=5). The average weight increase of the experimental group was significantly greater than the controlled (p=2.4 x 10-3, one-tailed paired t-test).

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Figure 2. The average weight of mice recorded in each group. The experimental group had a decrease due to excess amount of creatine.

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Figure 3. The amount of food the mice did not eat. The experimental group greater amount of food not ingested due to excess amount of creatine. When the amount of creatine was decreased the experimental and controlled group had around the same amount of food not eaten.

Discussion

The initial hypothesis was that creatine monohydrate would increase the total body mass of Mus musculus. The results showed that the creatine monohydrate did increase the total mass of the mice. The experimental mice lost weight during the beginning of the research period due to the excess amount of creatine monohydrate that was given, which caused diarrhea. After this issue was resolved by giving a smaller dose of creatine monohydrate, the mice began to have increase in weight.

There are many reasons why creatine monohydrate had a positive effect on mice. Mice have a fast metabolism rate; which may have caused the creatine monohydrate to have a shorter period of time to pass through the blood stream and distribute throughout the body. The substance may have a quicker effect in the short period of time because throughout the experiment the mice were physically active which causes the creatine monohydrate to work better and faster. In the study done by Ziegenfuss (1998), the subjects were given a large amount of liquid (500ml of grape drink), because it is said that creatine has a higher effect when the body is fully hydrate. Throughout the research the mice were given an adequate amount of water in a cup; which was refilled everyday.

Tythcott (2000) hypothesized that rapid increase in force production might be putting unwanted stress upon the joints of the Harlan Sprague- Dawley rats. Fourteen 3-4 weeks old male rats were randomly split-up into separate groups. The experimental group was given creatine, which was dissolved into a carbohydrate solution (Hawaiian punch fruit drink). Each rat was given 0.5 cc of a 7.0x10-2 M creatine solution. Each rat received 0.046 g daily for 14 days. Additional creatine was added to water bottle to ensure administration of minimum dose. As for the control group, the same amount of Hawaiian fruit punch was given. As for exercising, rats swam once a day. The study found that supplementation appeared to have an average weight change in the experimental group. The experimental group experienced a significant average increase in weight by almost 33%. Tythcott might have had a greater increase in weight because the creatine monohydrate was also mixed into the fruit punch. Another study done by Vangenberge (1997) showed that creatine increased maximal strength, maximal intermittent exercise capacity, and fat free mass by 20% to 25%, 10% to 25%, and 60%. Both of these studies done by Tythcott and Vangenberge, have the similar procedures and results as our experiment. This shows that creatine monohydrate does, in fact, increase the weight of mammals and that our hypothesis is correct.

Acknowledgments

We will like to thank Amir Zand for helping us with choosing the mice for us. We will also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Parsa for letting us store the mice at their house throughout the research. Last, but not least, we will like to thank Professor Teh for supplying us with the equipment needed and his guidance.

References

Brink, W. (2005). Creatine Supplementation: Potential Applications in Medicine Townsend. Letter For Doctors and Patients, 92-95.

Pearlman P., J and Fielding A., R. (Feb 2006). Creatine Monohydrate as a

Therapeutic Aid in Muscular Dystrophy. Nutrition Reviews. 64(2), 80-88.

Powers E. M., Arnold L. B., Weltman L. A., Perrin H. D. Creatine Supplementation increases total body water without altering fluid distribution. Journal of Athletic Training.38(1), 44.

Tythcott,B.(2000). Effect of Creatine Monohydrate on Tensile Strength of Tendons in Rodents. Bios, 71(2),35-41.

Vandenberghe K., Goris M. , Van Hecke P., Van Leemputte M. ,Vangerven L., and Hespel P. (1997). Long-term creatine intake is beneficial to muscle performance

resistance training. Journal of Applied Physiology. 83(6), 2055-2063.

Ziegenfuss N. T., Lowery M. L., and Lemon W.R. P.(October 1998). Acute fluid volume changes in men during three days of creatine supplementation. Journal of Exercise Physiology. 1(3).

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